Revenge isn't Very Sweet
by statefarmsnake
Summary: Skoodge finds out about the irken (Invader Grapa) who 'stole' his mission on Blorch and is seeking revenge. Sadly, when Skoodge confronts Grapa, he didn't quite see Grapa in the best state of sanity.


Revenge isn't Very Sweet

Being made fun of both your leaders and your peers was one thing.

Being shot out of a cannon as part of an Organic Sweet was one thing.

Finding out that the credit for the destruction of your planet was stripped from you and given to a random irken… to Skoodge, that was on a whole different level.

He was dealing with the physical pains of the blast from Blorch's Organic Sweep. He was left with several burns and a large bruise on his stomach where he had made the impact on Blorch. Though, his PAK was perfectly intact and he managed to stay alive because of it. He was thankful for it, and he wanted to go directly back to the Massive to claim his official prize as conqueror of Blorch. Though, that's before he knew about Grapa, otherwise known as the new Skoodge.

He found out about it as he was wandering around Blorch while his ship was being repaired when he encountered a station with several news channels. Since Blorch was irken-owned, all of the news channels were based off of irken news.

Skoodge stopped to look at it, almost expecting him to pop up on the screens. The Organic Sweep was only a couple of days ago, so he was clearly still big news. Skoodge, the first conqueror to serve for Operation Impending Doom II.

That's what the TV screens said, and Skoodge felt so proud of himself, even if he was in a great deal of pain. Though, all of the pride (plus much of the blood in his head) flooded downwards when he didn't see his own face pop up on the screen. Instead, the news assured everyone that Skoodge was a taller irken with a large head.

"T-that's not me!" Skoodge exclaimed. "These TVs are lying! I'm Skoodge. I'm the invader of Blorch. What's happening here?"

Everyone stared at Skoodge since he was making such a scene. Many of the rat people glared at him. Obviously his achievement of conquering Blorch was distasteful to them, though they knew that Skoodge was telling the truth. He was, after all, the one who killed a majority of their friends, family, or clans.

Skoodge growled, using the laser beams from his PAK to shatter the screens on the TVs. The sparks flourished around the remains and danced in the air before eventually falling to the ground. Skoodge had never felt so upset before. He had been betrayed by his own people. The Organic Sweep _was_ an act to kill him. He kept reminding himself that it wasn't true, but his own leaders were trying to get rid of him, even though he had accomplished so much.

He heaved heavily and looked around, thinking that everyone thought he was crazy. Though, he would take crazy over short and ugly.

Instead of strange looks, blank stares only returned to Skoodge. The rats that lived on the planet were brutal, and they all knew who Skoodge was. They also knew who Skoodge was before he started tearing everything apart. A rat just like them who had the same plans, and then turned his back on them.

Skoodge realized this and realized what a fool he was. He had become a role model that slowly made his way into the higher factions and tried to start a revolution that would help Blorch for the better (well… mostly). Then all he did was give the Massive a call and started bringing everyone down, even his 'friends', when they were most vulnerable. What he did to them was no different than what his Tallest did to them. It was a mass betrayal, and he was so hurt.

His expression faltered until he was back to normal. No more rage, no more sadness, no more anything. He didn't know what to think anymore. He continued to walk down the streets, but this time something was very different. Skoodge looked at each slave on Blorch and took in all that he had done to each one of them.

'I killed your family.'

'Your friends are now in prison because of me.'

'I destroyed everything you held dear.'

It was a rough realization, but Skoodge needed to have it. He needed to experience it.

Skoodge started returning back to his temporary home where he was repairing his damaged Voot cruiser. There wasn't much done to it, but he wanted to make sure that it was at 100% capacity before sending it out into space again. This time, he didn't want to follow. This time, he didn't want to be followed.

A few days later, Skoodge's ship was repaired and he was brought back into space once again. His wounds were mostly healed and he felt much better than when he heard the news about his official 'reputation'.

Though, he knew that he had to have a game plan. He couldn't return to the Massive. At least, not right away. That would make him look desperate. At first, he didn't want to return to Irk because he felt he wouldn't be accepted, but then he thought of the new 'Skoodge'. The one who actively stole his name and title with a big smile on his face.

"What happened to you, new Skoodge?" he asked himself. He pulled up some of the news stations on his computer screen and then finally stopped when the new invader of Blorch was being zoomed in on. "Computer, identify the irken in this image."

"This is Invader Grapa, assigned to no planet. Official data shows that he is the invader of Blorch, which is incoherent with your personal logs. Would you like me to rewrite your logs?"

"No," Skoodge said. "Grapa's data is inaccurate… kinda. Where is Grapa currently?"

"Locking on to Grapa's PAK GPS chip…" the computer said in a monotone voice. It then showed an image of Irk with a red dot highlighting a certain area of land. Random coordinates were shown next to it.

Skoodge smiled. He thought about this for a second. He wasn't sure whether or not he should follow his personal set of ethics. But considering that ethics had been ignored for his sake, he didn't feel the need to do it for someone else. "Computer, set a course for those coordinates."

"Yes, Skoodge," the computer replied. The ship made a small shift and began heading towards Irk. Thankfully Skoodge had high-speed travel and Irk wasn't so far, so he only had to wait an hour to get there. It also gave him just enough time to think of a plan of attack when he finally reached Grapa.

After an hour, he had done just that. He was prepared to tell Grapa that he didn't deserve to be considered the invader of a planet that was never his. As his ship landed, Skoodge felt so confident of himself, ready to speak his mind.

He exited his ship and knocked on Grapa's door. He then felt that that was too polite, and he opened the door himself. On Irk, the sense of privacy was a bit backwards, so he didn't feel too bad.

"Grapa!" Skoodge yelled throughout out the house. "Invader Grapa, where are you?" He looked down at his GPS device and saw the Grapa was definitely in the house. He was about to yell again until he heard a soft, faint voice come from the other room.

"Who's there?" Grapa asked.

"The actual invader Skoodge. I want to talk to you."

"Skoodge!" Grapa exclaimed. "Go away."

"I'm not going to go away," Skoodge said as he walked forward, following the voice into the next room. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, believe me," Skoodge said. He couldn't believe how snarky he was being, but that was his sense of power. He looked around the house until he eventually saw the irken on his couch. Though, he looked paler than he was on the TV and his eyes were wider. Skoodge was actually a bit concerned. "Invader Grapa?"

"What are you doing here?" Grapa asked in a weak voice. "If you've come back to take back your fame as invader, then you can just have it. I don't want it anymore."

"You make it sound like it's torturing you," Skoodge said as he approached him. "Is it not everything that you've ever dreamed about when you became an invader?"

"It started out that way!" Grapa exclaimed, officially showing off his strong, deep voice. "You just don't understand what it's like to take credit for something that you never did. All of these questions that I couldn't answer and all of these irkens looking up to me as a role model. All because I'm the right height for them. The fame is great until it starts driving you crazy."

"But you looked so smug when you got the credit for it," Skoodge said. "I saw it on the news. You watched me get shot out of the cannon and losing every bit of dignity I had."

"It was an act," Grapa said. "I am not an invader, Skoodge! Before a growth spurt that changed my life, I was a table drone! This isn't a life that I expected to have."

"But it's a better life," Skoodge said.

"Not one that I want," Grapa said. "I'm sick of people calling me Skoodge. I don't want to sign any more autographs. Right now, I'd give anything to be a table drone again, because at least I know how to do that."

Skoodge blinked. He was starting to understand it a lot better. "You were driven to insanity?"

"Yes…" Grapa said. "Just make it go away. I'll tell the Tallest that you beat me up and that you are the rightful ruler of Blorch."

"They won't accept that," Skoodge said. "I learned that despite my accomplishments and rapid actions, I still cannot be strong in the eyes of the Tallest simply because I am short and ugly. A system that is so backwards." He sighed. "I can see why you would be driven to insanity. I think I went a little crazy, too."

Grapa simply stared at Skoodge, blinking a few times. He looked left-and-right, before slowly struggling to get up. It looked as if he almost forgot how to stand up since he thrashed back-and-forth before eventually getting a sense of balance. "Sit down and relax. You like irken cola?"

Skoodge was confused, but he did what he was instructed. He sat down at the couch and said, "Yeah."

Grapa nodded and went over to grab a couple of irken colas from the kitchen. He then put them on a tray and put it over his head as he walked over to Skoodge. He then knelt down in front of Skoodge.

Skoodge couldn't help but smile. "You were serious about being a table drone? I thought that was an absolute lie to help your story." He grabbed the cola and took a sip of it before setting it aside.

Grapa returned the smile before taking a sip of his own cola. "I served a bunch of elites, but I mostly served the Tallest. They then saw my growth and no longer wanted my service. They said I would be useful elsewhere and promoted me to Invader on the spot."

"On the spot?" Skoodge asked. "Invaders have to go through extensive training before they can get the title. I had to go through 4 additional years of it because my instructors said I wasn't ready to be an invader. Though, now I'm thinking it's because of my height that they said that."

"I don't think they were in the right mind," Grapa said. "They aren't normally. You should hear some of the crazy things they say."

"Like what?"

Grapa looked away. "I'm not allowed to say. They told me that they have me constantly tracked and that if I blab, they would have my PAK removed. I don't believe them, but I'm not prepared to risk it."

"Smart," Skoodge said. "But you don't seem very fond of them."

"Not after what they've done," Grapa said. "What you say is right. This society is backwards and there's nothing we can do about it."

"Except leave," Skoodge said.

"Leave?" Grapa asked. "Yeah, that's an option, but who would be insane enough to do something like that?"

"Me," Skoodge said. "At least, I considered it. I have two options at this point. Either I beg for the Tallest to reassign me so I can prove to them _again_ that I am a powerful invader, or I move somewhere else. I was thinking Earth."

"Earth? You're kidding, right? If you want to be considered even less in the eyes of the Tallest, that is the place for you to go."

Skoodge shrugged. "It isn't ideal. Though, Zim and I… well, we were acquaintances in the Academy. He's perhaps the only one who would tolerate me."

"Yeah, but could you tolerate him?" Grapa asked. "He's a bit of an idiot."

"I can," Skoodge said. "Zim can be annoying, but he isn't as bad as you think."

"Well, I guess I can trust your judgment."

Skoodge nodded in approval. "So what are you going to do? You clearly do not like your current situation, and it sounds like that it's not going to stop."

Grapa looked out his window. A couple of irkens were chatting outside before looking at Grapa's house. Either they were just friends trying to have a friendly chat outside, or they were there to wait to see if Grapa would come out and give them tips on being a great invader. Grapa expected the latter. "Perhaps leaving wouldn't be so crazy, but where would I go? Many of the planets around us are invaded or are in the process of being invaded."

"Come with me," Skoodge instantly said.

"No," Grapa said. He looked at Skoodge. "Well, I would like to go with _you_. You seem to understand our situation better than I do. I am just not fond of where you're planning on going."

"If Earth and Zim is what's deterring you from getting away from all of this stress and pain, then I think you're foolish and stupid."

"You really think so?" Grapa asked. He faced his window again and looked outside. Thankfully, the irkens were gone. "What would we do when we get there? Live on our own as humans and start a new life as if everything you've worked for meant nothing?"

"What exactly have we worked for?" Skoodge asked. "You were a table drone that got paid two monies every year and my achievements were stripped from me because of how I look. Also, the Tallest probably think I'm dead."

"Well if you put it that way, then it seems very stupid to stay here."

"Exactly, so… my ship is outside and I'm going to go to Earth no matter what," Skoodge said. "Whether or not you come with me is your choice." He felt so blunt when he said that, but he meant it. Though, in the back of his mind, he actually wished that Grapa would go with him. He didn't want to go through the pain all by himself.

Though, as he made it to the door, he felt that going alone was going to be the case. He gripped the doorknob and turned it slowly. He almost opened the door when suddenly something gripped at his arm. Skoodge felt a bit of relief, thinking that Grapa changed his mind. He looked up at Grapa, who had a solemn look. A lot of the color had already returned to his face, giving him a sense of life.

"I think I should go with you," Grapa said. "I don't want to stay here anymore and you're the first person to give me the chance to leave this all behind and start anew."

Skoodge nodded. "Are you sure this is what you want? You… might be able to come back should you change your mind in the future, but this might turn out to be permanent."

Grapa nodded. "Yeah, get me out of here." He released his grip on Skoodge's arm and crossed them behind his back.

"You got it," Skoodge said. He swung the door open and they both exited. Grapa shielded his eyes with his hands since he hadn't been out of his house for a couple of days. The stress of the outside world was too much for him.

"I'm surprised," he said. "Normally there would be at least one or two irkens waiting outside of my house to ask me questions."

"People get bored easily," Skoodge said as he entered his ship. "And besides, we should be glad. It means that this escape will be smooth."

"I agree," Grapa said. "I'm done answering to Skoodge anymore anyways. I don't think a single irken on this planet knows that my actual name is Grapa."

Skoodge gently brought Grapa aboard and said, "Well, that makes it easier for you. They're going to wonder why Skoodge is gone, not Grapa. Once they look me up, they'll find a bunch of data about me, not you."

"And hopefully they'll just lose interest."

Skoodge chuckled. "For once, I'm glad someone would lose interest simply because my picture showed up."

"Yeah… that's pretty great," Grapa said as he leaned back in his chair. Skoodge started up his ship and they slowly exited Irk's atmosphere with as little detection as possible. Though, it was much more common to see Voot cruisers passing in and out of Irk than anywhere else.

"Hey, Skoodge?" Grapa asked as he looked out the window, Irk getting smaller and smaller as it got farther away.

"Yeah?" Skoodge replied as he put in the coordinates for Earth.

"Thank you. I think I would have rot in that house if you weren't here to rescue me…"

Skoodge rolled his eyes. "Grapa, I will admit that I did come to get revenge on you. If you were still happy and smug about being me, I probably would've still done it."

"Funny how things change…" Grapa said, sighing.

"I wouldn't say it's funny, but it's interesting," Skoodge said. He looked down at his course to Earth and said, "I hope you're ready for a long trip. A couple of days."

"I'm fine with that," Grapa said. "As long as I get to relax."

"Yeah, we'll be able to do a lot of that."

Skoodge and Grapa did a lot of staring out into space, but they also did a lot of sleeping. It seemed that they both were at a lack of energy simply because they couldn't sleep before. But, while they weren't sleeping or staring, they were talking to each other. Becoming good friends, actually.

"The Tallest once asked me to bring them an irken cola while I was mad at them," Grapa started. "I just went back to the kitchen, opened the can, then added a few… things to the drink."

"What kind of things?" Skoodge asked.

"Other sodas, some random crumbs. I even found one of those meggots and threw one in as well." Grapa laughed a little.

Skoodge chuckled a bit. "What did they do to you once they drank it?"

"Oh, I was punished. Badly." Grapa thought for a moment. "A couple of pummelings and I had to go back to serving my old Irken Elite. It was painful, but at the time, it was worth it."

"Did you have a lot of times where you were angry with the Tallest?" Skoodge asked.

Grapa shook his head. "No, I was a loyal irken. A lot of things would bother me, but I would just let it go so I could keep everyone happy with me. But like that incident, there would be times where the Tallest would go over the edge and I was feeling extra devious."

Skoodge rolled his eyes. "It's in our nature. But I'm like you. I'm loyal, too. The only reason I worked so hard to defeat Blorch so quickly was so that I could impress my Tallest. Then I thought I did, then… well you know what happened."

"I do, and I'm sorry that happened to you," Grapa said. "Trust me, I really am. There are a few irkens who I wouldn't care less if they were shot out of cannons, but you are definitely not one of them."

"Thank you," Skoodge said. "You only half-deserved what you got. The fame and the glory and all of the stress to go with it."

"One day I might be able to look back at it and laugh," Grapa said. "Today is not that day."

"Not by a long shot," Skoodge said.

Grapa nodded before letting out a big yawn. "I think I'm going to get some rest. Are you alright with keeping watch?"

Skoodge nodded. "Yeah, I have enough energy to keep myself awake."

"Thanks," Grapa said as he closed his eyes and began to snooze.

This left Skoodge alone again with no one to talk to. Just staring out into space as his new home got closer and closer to him. T-minus 3 hours, 46 minutes, 22 seconds. Not long before his new life began. He didn't know if he should be concerned or ecstatic, so he stuck with a mixture of the two. He wasn't used to too much change, but Blorch had helped with living in new environments.

At first, Skoodge would feel as if he was doing this all by himself. No one to keep him company or care for him (because he knew Zim wasn't going to do it.) But then Skoodge felt a lot more comfortable. Grapa, in his sleep, leaned his head on Skoodge's shoulders. At first he was startled by the touch, but then got a warm feeling surrounding his entire body. He wrapped his arm around the back of Grapa's shoulders, holding the snoozing irken as he was brought closer to Skoodge's warm body.

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all."


End file.
